Trump Signs “Single Largest Arms Deal In US History” With Saudi Arabia Worth $350 Billion
by Tyler Durden
When all other sources of economic growth appear tapped out, there is always the military-industrial complex coming to the rescue of US GDP with the sale of arms and equipment to the world’s biggest purchaser of weapons: Saudi Arabia. Because when one looks beyond the pageantry, pomp and circumstance of Trump’s visit to Saudi Arabia, the main purpose behind the president’s visit is precisely that: selling weapons, some $350 billion over the next decade, according to estimates.
To be sure, Trump arrival in Saudi Arabia on Saturday was quite a spectacle, with the Saudi king throwing the president’s family arrival at the Royal Diwan a “welcome fit for a king.”
However, it is what was announced on Saturday that is the highlight of the various meetings between the Trump delegation and his Saudi hosts, who have promised to invest billions of dollars in the U.S. as well and make other decisions aimed at pleasing Trump.
According to a statement just issued by the White House, Trump “has just completed largest single arms deal in US history, negotiating a package totaling more than $109.7 billion” which will boost Saudi Arabia’s defense capabilities, bolstering equipment and services in the face of extreme terrorist groups and Iran. The White House added that the deal will create defense jobs while also reaffirming America’s commitment to Saudi Arabia.
In Saudi Arabia @POTUS has just completed largest single arms deal in US history, negotiating a package totaling more than $109.7 billion
“This package of defense equipment and services support the long-term security of Saudi Arabia and the Gulf region in the face of Iranian threats, while also bolstering the Kingdom’s ability to contribute to counter terrorism operations across the region,” the White House said in a statement on Saturday, as quoted by CNBC News.
US President Donald Trump, along with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson who is accompanying him on the trip, will attend the signing of a memorandum of intent on the package, Reuters reports, citing a White House official.
“This package demonstrates, in the clearest terms possible, the United States’ commitment to our partnership with Saudi Arabia and our Gulf partners, while also expanding opportunities for American companies in the region,” the statement reads, according to Reuters.
The deal will provide Saudi Arabia, the world’s largest importer of weapons (for the breakdown of the world’s weapons trade, see “Visualizing The Global Weapons Trade“), with top-tier equipment and services including missiles, bombs, armored personnel carriers, Littoral Combat Ships, THAAD missile defense systems, and munitions.
According to estimates cited by The Indepdent, including restocking and future commitments over the next ten years, the deal could balloons to $350 billion worth of arms, over a third of a trillion dollars.
Gary Cohn, Trump’s chief economic advisor, said Saudi Arabia is “going to hire US companies” as a result of the defense deal. The goal of the deal is “to invest a lot of money in the U.S. and have a lot of U.S. companies invest and build things over here,” Cohn said, according to a White House press pool report.
The vast funds which will boost the US defense sector will be spent to “address Saudi Arabia’s defense needs while scaling back U.S. military involvement in specific operations” the Hill reported.
Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman began negotiations on this deal shortly after the 2016 US election when he sent a delegation to Trump Tower to meet with the president’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, who is serving as a senior advisor of sorts to Mr Trump.
The deal will be what the Washington Post said is a “cornerstone” of the proposal encouraging the Gulf states to form its own alliance like the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) military alliance, dubbed “Arab Nato.”
It’s not just weapons, however.
According to Bloomberg, Saudi Aramco will sign initial accords and joint-venture agreements valued at about $50 billion with companies including General Electric Co., Schlumberger Ltd. and Halliburton Co., Chief Executive Officer Amin Nasser told reporters in Riyadh. These companies are “trying to expand their footprint in the kingdom by expanding trade between the two sides,” he said.
“Many of us sitting on the table are overseeing substantial investments in the United States,” Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said. “Sabic has a big platform with the acquisition of GE Plastics which they continue to build on.” Other deals will be announced today, he said.
Saudi Aramco also plans to sign accords with Baker Hughes Inc., KBR Inc., Jacobs Engineering Group Inc., Nabors Industries Ltd., Weatherford International Plc, McDermott International Inc. and Rowan Companies Plc, two people familiar with the matter said earlier this week.
And so, with industrial and manufacturing spending in the US having declined over the past two years following the collapse in commodity prices, mothballing much of US capital spending, US GDP is about to get a fresh boost courtesy of what has become the world’s most prolific arms dealer.
With that, both the neo-cons in D.C., as well as the all-powerful American Military-Industrial complex can declare a truly unprecedented victory.
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TLB thanks ZeroHedge and Tyler Durden for this original article and coverage.
More about the Military Industrial Complex from TLB:
Empire Building: US Military Deployed “Literally” Across the Planet
Politics of War, Torture, Assassination & The Military Industrial Complex
Follow TLB on Twitter @thetlbproject
Hear my comment in this regard. One day our prophet prayed may ALLAH bless for Sham(current Syria) & Yemen. Someone said ya Rasulullah please pray for NAZD(current Saudi Arabia). Prophet kept him silent. Few time later prophet further prayed may ALLAH bless for Sham & Yemen. That person further said ya Rasulullah please pray for NAZD. Prophet kept him silent. Few time later prophet further prayed may ALLAH bless for Sham & Yemen. That person further said ya Rasulullah please pray for NAZD. Third time prophet replied NAZD there will be establish severe anarchy, horns of Satan will be rise there, earthquake will happen there, bloodshed war will happen there.
Who are the Al-Saud tribe, descendants of the despicable Khazarian mafia, whose mission is to establish Zionism coincided Islam throughout the Muslim world including Arabia. So firmly they’re intended to kill opponents and so they’re deadly thirsty for weapons.
This is a comment which is more of a religious theme.
Comment To Mark Taylor on War and Heavy Metals
Your President just sold billions of dollars of arms to one of the most diabolical and deceitful regimes in the world You have been involved in overturning 70 countries ? in the past 60+ years? Do you think you should have listened to the John Birch Society and brought the troupes home, instead of destroying so many lives? I have 110 chapters of the Book of Enoch. I have a book called “Secret Teachings of Jesus” and it includes three books by James, John, and Thomas and also the Gospel of Thomas. Also, I have read the Nag Hamadi which includes the Gnostic Gospels. From these books and the Bible, I have learned that there are three demonic bloodlines that have come upon the earth since the beginning of recorded history and these bloodlines came into being by disobedience and/or pride and arrogance. The Serpent came into being by the disobedience of Sophia who was the 3rd Power of the 4th Realm. She wanted a child but she needed a male lover and permission from the Spirit. She went ahead without either and brought forth a being that looked like a serpent with a lion’s head who thought he was God. He was the one who said, “I am a jealous god…”. The second lot came from the 200 fallen angels led by Semjaza, who lusted after the daughter’s of men and they decided together to transform themselves into physical beings to have sex with human women. They gave themselves horse size penises (maybe that is where the worship of penises and the obelisk came from??? The leader, Semjaza, lamented that he feared he would be the only to suffer the consequences. They all in unison declared that they would bring themselves together by oaths and curses and the first demonic secret society was born. The third bloodline came from Lucifer. According to Isaiah he was driven out of Heaven and came down upon the earth. Now who was Lucifer when he came upon the earth. Did he disappear into the crowd or did he make a big splash and distribute his seed upon the earth? A stone with ‘the house of David’ carved into it is not proof that the wicked man David ever existed. So my guess is that Solomon who also broke every rule in the Book was Lucifer. People worshiped him on this earth because of his wealth which he stole from the people. Does that remind you of certain people on this earth today? So these are the wicked bloodlines of people today who are possessed by the Spirits of Darkness. Among the fallen angels, whom did the Creator signal out from all the rest? It was Azazel, who taught men the ‘Art of Heavy Metals and the Art of War’. God told Raphael to bind his arms and feet and cover his head and throw him into the Dudael desert and there he will remain until Judgement Day. He told Raphael to ascribe to Azazel ALL SIN. God hates the use of heavy metals and the idiocy of war. We are talking about all war mongers and of the demonic Hermetic Dentistry, Hermetic Medicine, Chem Trails, GMO Foods, radiation poisoning from Smart meters and Mircowave Cell Towers brought to us by the US Oligarchs, the Communist Oligarchs and Bankster Oligarchs and the 12 Secret Society Oligarchs, the International Corporation Oligarchs. This goes on and on. Do you get the picture I am trying to tell you. Maybe the US should have listened to The Birch Society. Bring the troupes home. The US and Israel (Communists) and the Mohammadins have caused more evil on the earth than any of the other groups in history. Did you ever think that, maybe, you are on the wrong side of history and the wrong side of Heaven?
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Dee I agree with you whole heartedly and we at TLB are not timid at holding his feet to the fire (look at some of the articles proving this we have published). Not sure why you are having issues with the article link, we are not? You can always share this from our FaceBook page https://www.facebook.com/TheLibertyBeaconProject/?fref=ts We have already shared it from there may times without any issues. Thanks for you great comment Dee … Roger Landry (TLB)
Hey Roger, I tried three times to share this, with a caustic comment, with Facebook, and three times it said I had the “wrong URL”. Trump said he was meeting with all the religious leaders to get them to be friendlier to each other… but did NOT mention any arms deals. To my mind, bombing the crap out of other people’s nations, and selling the tools to do that with to known human rights abusers, is NOT the way to “Make America Great Again”: one doesn’t enforce peace with big sticks. The “Golden Idol” has FEET OF CLAY.